01-19-2021 Planning Commission Packet

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Orono City Chair Ressler Orono City Planning Commission Members January 19, 2021 Page 4 (6) a. In instances where the average lakeshore setback can not be met, administrative approval may be granted at the discretion of the planning director provided no lake views of an adjacent lakeshore lot are obstructed and adjacent neighbors provide written approval" (Emphasis Ours.) (See Ord. No. 11 3rd series, § 1, 5-24-2004 and Ord. No. 106 3rd series, § 28, 6-10-2013). Attached as Exhibit 4 is an August 12, 2019, City of Orono Memorandum (the "Memorandum") from Jeremy Barnhart, the Community Development Director, addressed to Mayor Walsh, the City Council Members, and City Administrator Dustin Rief. The Memorandum was prepared shortly before the October 2019 amendment to the ALS Ordinance, at the direction of City Council, in order to"review Average Lake Shore setback regulations . . . in part to ensure that the regulations actually protected lake views." (Memorandum p. 1). The Memorandum makes multiple other references to the importance of lake views and to neighbor consent in order to preserve the sanctity of the ALS: Page 8 of the Memorandum comes from the City Council minutes from the July 15, 2019 ALS discussion. Mr. Barnhart indicated that the ALS "was established in 1992 and was intended to protect the views of lakeshore property owners." Further, Mr. Barnhart listed "[p]reservation of lake views"as the first of the goals of the ordinance. Pages 11 and 12 of the Memorandum refer to the ALS as being established "to protect the views of lake shore property owners from encroachment due to expansion and placement of structures on neighboring lots." (Emphasis ours). Subdivision of property would be an expansion of a neighboring lot.The City Council was also concerned with situations"where the average lake shore setback didn't realistically protect a lakeview." (Page 11 of the Memorandum). As with other lakeshore properties in Orono, the Jacobs Trust property is currently subject to ALS limitations. Those limitations currently prevent development of Lot 5 of the proposed subdivision. However, in the proposed subdivision, the northerly ALS line runs, at the northwest, from a conveniently presumed home pad location on Lot 3 of Tanager Estates to, at the southeast, the Burwell home. On Friday, January 15, 2021, I had a conference call with Barbara Burwell, Glen Schumann, a real estate lawyer from my Firm, Tim Whitten, AIA (the Jacobs' family's developer), and Patrick Steinhoff, the Jacobs' family's lawyer. During the January 15, 2021, Zoom call, many questions were asked of Mr. Whitten regarding the revised six-lot subdivision proposal, for which he had no answer. 4 6733724v1